Aiyah!* Fie upon my own fickleness in keeping this blog updated, and all prizes to you for checking it after a whopping 46 days of silence. Again, there is too much to tell, but here are some pictures.

*Aiyah is the Chinese cry for universal surprise, frustration, or pain.


The first week of May is a holiday in China. Labor Day, the holiday of the workers! Hooray for the workers! Hooray for no classes! One of my students, Marie, invited me to visit her hometown. After a seven hour journey by crowded train and van, we arrived in her village. This is Marie, her father, and her mother in front of their home, which doubles as a motorcycle shop. They live in three rooms above the shop, have a kitchen in an alley behind, and a backyard with a well for washing. They were unflinchingly hospitable to me, even though I could hardly speak more than three words of Chinese. Marie proved to be a proficient translator during our two days there. Actually, the most trying part of the visit for me was having to repeatedly refuse the outpouring of their kindness.

People wake up early in the countryside, both because the roosters' jubilation begins at 5:00 in the morning and because the cool part of the day is a prime time to get things done. Everyone was out on the streets by 6:00, gathered around the corner market, sweeping their front sidewalks, pulling weeds in their roadside gardens, or preparing another batch of dumplings to sell.

For all that Chinese food is delicious, I have retained some mental barriers to certain foods, and my gag reflex is fully functioning. Having heard horror stories of friends choking on unfamiliar dishes like turtle, snails, chicken feet, and other "delicacies," I still hadn't come up with a plan for how to graciously avoid strange foods when Marie and I arrived late the first night. Marie's mother, extending traditional Chinese hospitality, had prepared an enormous dinner even though it was past 10:00. We sat down to eat, and Marie ladled a heaping serving of soup into my bowl. It was liquified chicken fat and chainsaw chicken--chicken that has been chopped up whole without being de-boned...which means beak, talons, and ribs...the whole thing. It was a moment of crisis. I slurped up the broth, but fed the chicken bones to the three dogs running around underneath the table. It's customary to drop or spit bones onto the floor anyway, but I was thankful for the dogs. At least her mother wasn't offended by sweeping up my un-gnawed chunks of chicken. I got along much better with the garlic shoots. Hen chi. (Delicious.)



Marie eating a zhongzi (that is spelled completely wrong)...it's a pyramid of glutinous rice and ham wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. According to Marie, "It is a specialty of China for the Dragon Boat Festival." After a two-hour taxi ride from Marie's hometown to the train station, we ate them for breakfast before our train left from JiAn.

On the last Saturday of May Holiday, I accompanied Esther and her friend to MeiLing Mountain, a one-hour bus ride from Nanchang.

This pagoda was intriguing because contrary to all expectations, it was outfitted with it's own sound system, electricity, and a fresh coat of paint. Even the stone lions at the front were untarnished. Conclusion: it was newly built for the tourists, all nine stories of it. Oh, China!

Office hours!
One Saturday evening, Anna, Sarah Jane, Sarah, and Laura came over to my apartment to show me how to make dumplings. I'll give it a try when I come home. Prepare to be subjected to my dumpling experiments!

Random Fact: Many private universities send out/ force their underclassmen students to go recruiting during May holiday and well into the months of May and June. The students are paid if they entice anyone to come, but in the meantime they're missing classes...my classes. Including the final exam. Is this an educational institution or a business? Mmmmmmm.